Moment of Truth
by Handsome Awkward
Summary: The hospital is attacked. Everyone is going mad. House is the savior? What the hell is going on? NOT A ZOMBIE FIC. more of an epidemic type thing.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: this may not be as good as I assumed but I really wanted to put this out there. I just came to me and I did not want to waste any time thinking about it.

My opinion? If you like this or not, I can't be your opinion, I know there will be no middle ground. Don't fret. It's not a zombie fic. Enjoy it.

Disclaimer: don't own

He gently pushed his way through the crowd. It was different, he never gently pushed his way through anything. Something was odd about the day. He had woken up in sweats, his leg throbbing-- not like it never did-- it hurt a lot worse this morning though. He took a long cold shower, but turned the water to a scalding heat for the benefit of his leg.

His bike wouldn't start and the crappy car kept backfiring. Once he pulled into the hospital parking lot the car let out another low bang into morning air. He sighed and left the old Cadillac to gather snow in the winter weather.

He walked through the automatic doors and the crowd around him wouldn't move. The seemed to be waiting for something. He muttered in annoyance as he _gently_ made his way through. He got to the elevators and was relieved to find it empty. Confused, he stood in the lonely lift as it moved upwards to his floor.

His office was close and another wave of relief hit him. He entered the glass walls of his small getaway. He dropped himself into his chair and reveled in the comfort of the plush leather. Faux leather, as it be, it was still pretty damned comfortable.

His feet lifted and sat atop his desk, crossed at the ankles. He reached over beside his computer and turned on his iHome. The click of the thin iPod in the dock was vaguely comforting. The soft melodies of _As My Guitar Gently Weeps _came on. He sighed and let the music send him into a reverie.

It seemed like hours went by and he wasn't disturbed, not once. He wondered where the hell his team was but didn't really worry about it. He was relaxed.

His mind was turned off for the moment and he was satisfied. In comfort zone. His relaxation made him doze off--good thing too.

He woke up with a jerk.

He glanced up through the window/wall, only to see more than hear someone scream. His eyes widened slightly. The woman was in a white or beige business suit, it was more off-white than beige but that wasn't what shocked him. The blood stains on the collar made him curious. They were small dots that had been smeared on lapels--almost as if someone had grabbed her.

He didn't see fingerprints. Her blonde hair was loosely hanging in greasy, stringy strands just above her shoulders, the styled haircut was ruined and House figured she wasn't the type to let that happen. She laughed suddenly then ripped off the coat-- her tank top bloodstained as well. She grabbed the nearest person-- a small woman, maybe in her twenties, and ripped into her neck with bared teeth.

"Jesus." House whispered standing up and moving toward his exit. He reached the woman and grabbed her around the waist to pull her back. She screamed and kicked in his arms like someone in a mad-house. _That's exactly where she needs to be._ House's thoughts were abruptly interrupted when the wounded girl reciprocated by jumping on the flailing woman in his arms. That actually knocked him down-- His leg giving out from under him.

Now he lay under the feuding women. No, this was definitely more than feuding. They were full out brawling. The previously attacked--younger woman-- was bleeding from her carotid. Though, she seemed not to notice it, House did, blood was spurting over the older-blazer-wearing woman above him and dripping to his face. He turned his head fiercely--blood inches away from entering orifices. He pushed the two of them off of him and they went even more crazy, baring teeth, snapping jaws, clawing hands. House was perplexed. He had never seen anything like this.

A searing pain went through his face. He looked to see one of the women coming after him. His look for help failed when he saw that the hallway was deserted. That shocked him even more. It sounded as if the brawling woman and him were the only people in the entire hospital. That was NOT possible. House threw out his arm and felt vibrations through his cane and hand as it rapped the back of her head. He couldn't tell which woman he'd hit, the other woman--the blazer woman-- bit into his hand making him swiftly pull back his arm as he shouted out in pain. As he pulled his hand out a chunk of flesh was torn from the vein in his wrist. He grasped at his bleeding wrist, the blood gushing out through his fingers.

He kicked as hard as he could with his left leg, hitting her into the nose-- shattering the bone. She cried out and leaped for him once again. He pulled away just in time for her to bite into his shoulder, not his neck. He grunted again pushing her away with all his strength. The younger girl woke up with a groan, she stood up limply and looked at House with anger, she threw her hands down to her sides, bracing herself. House seemed ready, he pulled himself up with great difficulty. He stood painfully on his right leg and almost collapsed once again. Correcting himself on his left leg, he stood. The woman ran after him and he grabbed her by the shoulders, hauling her down to the ground and landing on top of her.

She screamed loud enough to leave House with ringing in his ears. He dropped his head in pain and heard the woman silence. He looked up to see the pool of blood spread out more than before-- he glanced at her face, she was still, eyes closed, cooling skin. Dead. He checked for a pulse--none, he was extremely relieved. His shoulders sagged and he fell into the large puddle of blood.

It was starting to jelly-- like he was laying in a puddle of pudding. The feel of it made him cringe but he couldn't move. The older woman was crawling toward him. He glanced over and realized the vulnerable state he was in.

He tried crawling away and managed to get to the elevator for the second time that morning. He reached up and hit the button to go down and watched as it lit up. For once he was thankful for having long arms. He fell back down the wall with a grunt. The woman was coming for him--that freaked him out.

What the hell was happening around here? His team was gone, no one was up on the ninth floor, it was in the middle of the day-- something was completely out of place, but he couldn't figure it out.

The doors slid open and House had never been happier. He crawled vigorously into the lift and into the nearest corner, bringing his knees to his chest he pulled out his cell phone only to have it drop out of his hands when the woman started coming through the doors.

They closed on her neck as she tried making her way through-- a passive thought of motion sensors came into his mind, but he was glad she was stuck on the outside-- at least halfway out. The elevator started to drop. The woman's eyes widened exceptionally when she realized what was happening.

The passive though came back to him-- shouldn't the doors open when something, or in this case someone, was in the way? They always have. Not this time. The doors had shut on this woman's neck. He stared in shock as the small lift started to descend. He watched as the woman's neck was between the top of the elevator and the floor. Her neck started to snap, and he couldn't believe he was watching someone get decapitated.

Her head fell off with a shocked expression and another puddle of blood grew in the floor of the elevator. House gasped for a breath-- what the hell had just happened? What the hell?

The elevator stopped. He felt it jerk and the head rolled slightly toward him. Her eyes were looking straight at him. He felt a rush of cold go up his spine. He shook slightly and grasped his wrist once again. Trying to clot the blood. There was too much of it.

--

"What is going on? Why can't we get upstairs?" Cuddy asked the maintenance man-- His nametag read 'Bill'.

"There is something wrong with the elevators. They've blocked up all of the upper floors, please, don't ask me why. I was told to block it all off."

"Block it all off? For how long? I have employees, patients…I have a HOSPITAL to run." Wilson grabbed her shoulder gently and pulled her away.

"We can help as many people as we can here, just, come on." she nodded a small nod and walked along with him.

"This is ridiculous. They don't even know what is going on." She sighed as Wilson led her toward the group of people that had gathered, "The damned elevators were working this morning." Her fingers were resting against her forehead.

"They'll figure it out." Foreman said grabbing his newest girlfriends hand. Why? He didn't know- he just felt the need to comfort her. It was odd, but he didn't think anything of it.

There was a scream in the distance. Cameron gasped in shock, and everyone looked up to where she was looking with a hand over her mouth.

A man, who looked like a picture of lunacy stood on top of the balcony above. He was holding onto the ledge, his legs knelt and both hands on either side of him, almost bracing his jump. He screamed again. No one knew how to respond to what this man was doing.

--

House was practically bleeding to death, not to mention the incoming panic attack he could feel building up in his chest. His breathing was becoming irregular and he was unfocused. He knew he couldn't be…not today. His mind was reeling, playing back the scenario over and over again. He closed his eyes only to feel the elevator move up with a jerk. Just one quick movement and the doors slid open once again.

He opened his eyes to see the bloody tendons and muscles laying in a third puddle of blood where the woman's head should be. He looked away and limped painfully away from her and into the quiet, deserted hall.

He heard a loud scream. He wasn't one to want to go through a catastrophe again, but was almost transfixed toward the noise. He saw from the doorway he was standing in, a man who was about to jump off the balcony. He looked, again, perplexed at the madness he was witnessing.

He practically ran to the man, dismissing the gasps from below, he grabbed him by his waste and collapsed under the man's weight. He heard someone scream out his name from below. It sounded like Wilson but he didn't dwell on it. The man flipped over and another set of teeth came toward him. He felt like he was in some shitty snuff film as the bloody man attacked him. He moved out of the way and the larger man did a double take before his face slammed into the floor beside his head. House stood up quickly and used the rail of the balcony to give him balance. He leaned all of his weight on the balcony and a brief image of the balcony shattering from under him and him splattering all over the lobby floor.

The man rose from the heap he once was and came toward House once more. His step stuttered but he kept coming for him. He tried to move away but the man was somehow too quick for him. He tackled House and bit into his neck, but before his teeth sunk into his flesh, House pushed him away quickly.

The man bit into another part of his body, House couldn't really identify which part of him he'd bit but the pain was increasing and he screamed out.

No one below could see exactly what happened, it happened too quickly. Like a flash of lightening, House was standing then he was sprawled out on the floor fighting the lunatic off his leg.

His blood ran cold in fear when the man crawled up his torso. There was nothing he could do.

Another loud scream and the man went limp on him. House was breathing erratically, like he'd just ran a marathon. He gasped in a few breaths just to make his head a little less light. He pushed the heavy man off him and rolled away, his face pressed against the dusty tiles of the hospital floor. He sighed, and tried to move-- he felt completely numb.

Caked in blood, searing pain- so severe you almost couldn't feel it, only the dull throb and sting of it in the back of your mind, stiff, he felt completely…out of it. It was all so surreal. People were going crazy, everyone. He had never, in his forty-nine years seen anything even close to the madness that was happening right now.

Everything went to hell in just a couple of minutes. House sighed and looked down from his balcony view at the many, many faces of employees, patients, and visitors staring up at him in shock. He muttered something that resembled 'oomph' and pulled himself up. A few gasps were heard when they saw the blood on his back. He ignored them.

It was hard just to move. Not only that but in his peripheral vision he saw another crazy bloodstained man come toward him. It was like _Nigh of the Living Dead _and House played the leading role. He grunted trying to move away again--regretting every time he helped anyone, ever-- and watched as the man with his teeth bared like a dog, mumbling something that sounded like he was speaking in tongues, walking toward him dangerously. And for the first time since he had the infarction he was not just shocked--

he was scared shitless.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- Appreciate all of the reviews. Thank you.

Disclaimer- don't own.

The man speaking in tongues came toward him. He looked as if he was about to eat him alive-- that was probably the case. He backed up toward the balcony once more, trapped. There was no where he could move to.

The bloody psycho treaded after him faster than the first three. A brief thought of--why is this happening to me?-- went through his head. He couldn't believe this. This could NOT be happening. It was crazy, absolutely nuts.

His hands were bracing himself on the green railing of the tall balcony. He pressed himself closer to it as the man was getting closer and closer to him. His calloused hands grabbed House by his neck. That made him wince as his wrist hit the bite mark on his shoulder. He Pulled back abruptly and the man got angry.

He tugged and then pushed House. House's eyes widened as he seemed to be catapulted over the side of the balcony. He grabbed the side of the railing as his legs hung over the side, he didn't know how he ended up this way. Realizing his new acrobatic skills was the last thing on his mind.

The body is magnificent under pressure. Built to take anything that comes its way. Gives up when it needs to give up and dies when it needs to die. Adrenaline must have been what had helped him over the side. He was astounded.

He was beginning to slip--hands sweaty, strength leaving his arms…he was never very good at pull-ups. His fingers flexed and he let go--- gave up.

The fall felt as if it took forever. The images of the entire day running through his mind like a movie. Snap shots of the horrid events going through him like a mirage. He let out a scream and landed, hard, on his back.

His first reaction was to roll over-- to get the pain out of his back, but he was stopped. He felt an urgent arm on his shoulder pushing him back down flat on his spine. More pain wracked through him. The arm that was holding him down was now a breath on his face, then fingers on his neck, gasps in his ears, just a faceless presence.

There were whispers, mumbles, a lot of unfocused noises. Like he was in the middle of a Charlie Brown cartoon and they were the 'wah wah wah' adults.

He couldn't open his eyes. He couldn't feel pain. He could barely feel anything.

----

Amber held his hand as Wilson watched in horror, the picture in front of him making him want to scream. She rubbed a thumb over his hand as her eyes stayed fixed on House's back.

Chase put his arm around Cameron who looked as if she was going to pass out-- she'd never seen so much blood splattered in once place. Who knew who's blood it was-- whether it was House's or the crazy man that just collapsed-- dead on top of him.

Foreman looked sick as he held his new girlfriend--Danielle's-- hand.

Cuddy was becoming more and more frantic as she realized her head of diagnosticians was in trouble and her hospital was in trouble-- and she could do nothing, not a thing, about it.

The newest group of fellows stood staring in awe at what was happening- having nothing personal to go on about it. The entire lobby was silent-- the only sound was the growling from up above and the few gasps that were heard every once in a while.

Wilson shouted as he realized what was happening--gaining stares as he did so-- he ran out from the group and stood helplessly as House let out a pitiful shout and landed boneless on the lobby floor.

Wilson practically jumped, as House's body landed, to the ground to help him. His eyes looked him over-- he noticed the bite in his wrist, the one in his shoulder and the four -- claw? -- marks down his cheek. He gasped slightly. As soon as Wilson knelt down House moved to roll over-- Wilson caught his shoulder and pushed him down gently-- knowing the repercussions of a spinal injury. He pressed him to the floor and checked for a pulse-- he got a low but steady one.

"Thank God." He whispered.

He felt the people gathering behind him and around him but didn't take any notice to them. He checked his pupils, held his wrist where the bite-sized chunk was taken out and put the tip of his fingers on the deep gashes in his face. "Jesus." He muttered looking up in front of him. "Get a stretcher." He said quietly toward Cameron who looked frozen.

"Get a STRETCHER!" He screamed at her making her jump and run away from the crowd.

"We can't get him into an OR-- the elevators…they're" Cuddy started with tears running down her face.

"I know." Wilson muttered.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked through sobs.

"He's bleeding. Really bad." Wilson said holding his wrist with the palm of his hands, "I need something to block it."

"What's going on in this damned hospital?" She asked louder now.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Wilson yelled slightly rubbing House's chest comfortingly. Mostly to keep him down, but part of him thought he wouldn't wake up.

"Jame-" Amber started, kneeling down next to him.

"No." He said quietly, "Not happening. I'm not getting up, I'm not LEAVING him." Tears were forming in his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall, no, not now.

---

Blackness was his home. It felt like he had been in the same position for years. Lying down on his back, in slight pain, but perfectly numbing agony. It was like some kind of horrifying dream, blocking out all of his senses.

Misery. Horrid misery.

He heard more mumbling. Not the same mumbling that happened what seemed to be a million years ago, but quiet mumbling. Like whispers. He felt himself coming to. Almost see the redish light behind his eyelids. In a squint he saw a bright florescent light. His eyes opened wider and he felt blinded by it.

"House?" a barely audible whisper came through.

He moaned slightly rolling gently over to the side.

"Don't move." The voice was louder.

"Okay." He whispered hoarsely.

His eyes finally adjusted to the light and he looked at the face in front of him. Wilson.

"Wilson." Came his mutter of the obvious.

"Hey, you were out for a while." he said with a smile on his face. House looked at him confused. There was blood on his brow. He blinked a couple of times, trying his best to clear up the image.

"What?" He said trying to sit up.

"Lay back." he said louder than before.

House did as told and bounced slightly as his head hit the pillows behind him.

"You fractured your spine." Wilson said simply as if he'd said it to him a million times before.

"why…is there blood on your…head?" He asked difficultly, his voice cracked with confusion, frustration.

"there isn't." Wilson said backing away from him. He turned around and House heard a slight growl. His head turned toward the noise and his eyes squinted in the direction of Wilson. Wilson turned and his teeth were showing just as the four before were. He looked like he was about to start laughing. This made House rip out his IV.

He jumped up as quickly as he could with a limp, some broken bones, a shattered elbow, and a fractured spine to get away. Just as he kicked something soft, he was pushed to the bed. He felt several arms around him, on him. They were surrounding him-- attacking him. Pushing him down, holding him down. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

They had incredible strength, or so it seemed since he was for lack of a better word, limp. He felt suffocated, claustrophobic. He shouted, thrashed, butted, thrust up into the air, up against the hands that were holding him down. Evil hands. Deadly hands.

He couldn't get away. Biting, kicking, punching, anything to make them let go.

"GET OFF!" He yelled hoarsely, like he hadn't spoken in years. More thrashing. Couldn't do anything but kick and scream. Like a child. He felt like a child.

"House!" One person yelled far from him. He couldn't detect who they were-- he didn't care, he just wanted the hands off of him.

---

Cuddy tried to calm him down, tried to get him relaxed. Saying his name, saying different things just to make him comfortable, it didn't work. He kept kicking and yelling-- it was heartbreaking to be truthful.

Wilson had a hand on his good leg, Foreman was holding his torso, Chase had his shoulders pinned, Kutner held an arm down and, Taub was pinning down the shin on his bad leg. Once they had him completely unable to actually do harm Wilson jammed a shot in his leg and he calmed down slightly.

His screaming stopped and his thrashing got slower until he finally went still. Wilson swallowed heavily and backed away from him, as did everyone else. They stood there in shock until Wilson spoke up.

He cleared his throat, "Okay, he's…he's good."

"Yeah." Cameron sighed, "What was wrong with him?"

"He was hallucinating." Wilson said. "That fall was not what made him this way. Something from earlier must've scared him."

"Scared, House? Really. You think something was that bad?" Cuddy asked on a nervous, dismissive laugh.

"I don't know. Since the elevators have been out of order and that flood from the second floor bathroom caused the steps to be closed, no one was able to get upstairs. Who knows what actually happened." Wilson stated with his hands on his head. He had sat down as he explained his opinion, his head rested in the palms of his hands.

Amber came next to him to pat him on the shoulder--trying her best to be comforting. She knelt down beside him and kissed his cheek.

"He'll be okay." she said gently.

"there are bite marks on his wrist and shoulder, claw marks on his face. I want to know what happened to him."

"It's been two days, you're going to have to wait until he calms down from whatever it is that made him this paranoid." Foreman said trying to be helpful.

"Whatever made him paranoid? I think he had a damn good reason to be a little paranoid…unless he bit a chunk out of his wrist and tried the same to his shoulder-- and if that's the case he has bigger problems." Wilson said getting angry.

"Calm down. We will figure this out." Cuddy said using her most professional voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Wilson rolled his eyes and abruptly rose out of his chair, furiously pushing it to the ground. "Personally, I'm not going to wait here and watch him scream for help."

He gave one last look at the helpless man lying in the hospital bed, bandages bleeding through, stitches in his face and wrist covered by more gauze, casts on his elbow and bad leg. It was horrible. Wilson could not watch his best friend suffer any more. It hurt too bad.

---

Standing in the waiting room Wilson sat, staring at the wall with a picture on it. The picture was of a fruit basket. It was so mundane but seemed so interesting at the moment. It was peaceful.

"I'm sorry." Cuddy said sitting down next to him.

"Nothing for you to be sorry for." Wilson said still staring at the picture. "You should get back to work, you don't need to worry about House."

"I am staying right here, with you." she gently put a hand on his shoulder but hesitated slightly when he flinched a bit. "just…let me at least try to be there for you."

"Alright. I could go for a coffee." He halfway asked.

"Then let's get down to the cafeteria." she smiled grabbing his hand. He let her pull him along until they got to the elevators.

"Just one thing before we do get a coffee."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think House…got attacked," He started with great difficulty, "by more than those two?"

"One of the maintenance workers told me that he had to clean up two bodies." She paused holding the tears, "One was decapitated, and the other was bit in the neck."

"Jesus." Wilson whispered.

"It was by the elevators, the one with no head…the man said she got caught in the top of it-- as they were fixing it the motion detectors were turned off. That's why people were told not to go up them. Something to do with the second floor flooding. The other girl--Sydney-- had a bite in the neck-- ripped her tendons in half, by teeth." She was completely disgusted by what she was telling him. He seemed terrified at what was being said and was speechless for a moment.

He recovered after a bit, "What? It was…cannibalism?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what it was."

TBC


End file.
